With billions of dollars pledged to help safeguard the world's forests in order to slow the pace of climate change, there is an increasing urgency for all regions of the forested tropics to share experiences on how to best manage those forests for their sustainable use and for the benefit of their people.

In this half-day conference on the sidelines of the UNFCCC Conference of Parties, experts on the Amazon Basin, home to the world's largest tropical forest and dozens of REDD+ pilot projects, met with scientists from Africa, home to the second-largest tropical forest, to share experiences and discuss challenges and opportunities for the coming years.

The conference, titled Amazon Evening: A South-South Exchange with Africa, was jointly hosted by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Fundação Amazonas Sustentável (FAS, Amazonas Sustainable Foundation). It was held on 2 December at the Suncoast Conference Centre in Durban, South Africa.

This was the second Amazon Evening. The first was held on the sidelines of COP16 in Cancún in 2010 and was attended by about 300 international stakeholders.

 Agenda

13:00 – 14:00	Registration and welcome drink
14:00 – 14:05	Welcome remarks Frances Seymour, Director General, CIFOR
14: 05 – 14:15	Opening speech Virgilio Viana, Chief Executive Officer, FAS, Brazil
14:15 – 15:45	Panel 1. Exchange of experiences between Africa and Amazonia: Challenges and lessons learnt Discussants delivered brief remarks in response to the following question: What are the three key lessons learnt for successful REDD+ design and implementation? Chair: Yemi Katerere, Head, UN-REDD Programme Secretariat, Switzerland Sheila Wertz-Kanounnikoff, Senior Associate, Forests and Governance Programme, CIFOR, Mozambique Andre Correa do Lago, Chief Negotiator for Climate Change for Brazil and Head of the Department of Environment and Special Themes, Brazilian Ministry of External Relations, Brazil Ken Andrasko, Environment Dept./Carbon Finance Unit, World Bank Victor Kabengele, Project Coordinator/Ministry of Environment DR Congo, South-South Cooperation Focal Point  - Representative of DRC Isilda Nhantumbo, Senior Researcher, Natural Resources Group, International Institute for Environment and Development  (IIED), United Kingdom Alberto Paniagua, Executive Director, Peruvian Trust Fund for National Parks and Protected Areas
15:45 – 16:05	Coffee break
16:05 – 17:35	Panel 2. Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) challenges for REDD: How can Latin America and Africa collaborate? Discussants delivered brief remarks in response to the following questions: What are the most important issues arising from the process of moving from data gathering and processing toward REDD+ policy actions? What kind of collaboration could support this process? Chair: Christine Padoch, Programme Director, Forests and Livelihoods, CIFOR, Indonesia Louis Verchot, Principal Scientist, Forests and Environment Programme, CIFOR, Indonesia Denis Sonwa, Scientist, Forest and Environment Programme, CIFOR, Cameroon Mary Menton, Research Fellow, CIFOR, Peru Andrew Mitchell, Global Canopy Program (GCP) Gabriel Carrero, Researcher of the Climate Change and Environmental Services Program of Idesam
17:35 - 17:45	Brief remarks on private company involvement in the promotion of social technologies in developing countries. Bradesco Bank spokesperson, Guiliana Preziosi
17.45 - 17.55	Closing remarks Christine Padoch, Programme Director, Forests and Livelihoods, CIFOR, Indonesia
18:00 – 20:00	Cocktail

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